Smart Woman: Project EAT: Breaking the Teen Dieting Craze

Smart Woman: Project EAT: Breaking the Teen Dieting Craze

Between 41% and 66%
of all teenage girls in the US have attempted to lose weight at some point, but
a new study shows teens who diet actually gain more weight over time. So what
can parents do to help break this dieting cycle? We have the details.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - Between 41% and 66%
of all teenage girls in the US have attempted to lose weight at some point, but
a new study shows teens who diet actually gain more weight over time. So what
can parents do to help break this dieting cycle? We have the details.

The images are all around us: the magazine ads, the
commercials, all pressuring teenagers to be thin.

Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer is the author of "I'm Like So
Fat." For the past 15 years she has been tracking the eating habits of 2,800
adolescents for 'Project EAT' at the University of Minnesota.

"We live in a society where we have classism, we have
racism, and we have weightism." Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, MPH, RD, Lead
Researcher of 'Project EAT' at the University of Minnesota, tells Ivanhoe.

Her team found 58% of the teens studied used diet pills,
vomiting, or skipping meals to lose weight.

Plus the more adolescents dieted, the more weight they
gained. In the course of ten years, on average, adolescents gained ten to 20
pounds more than teens who didn't diet. So what can parents do to help promote
a healthy environment for their teens?

She suggests offering healthy foods in the home, eating
dinner as a family, and avoiding negative comments.

"Making comments like you should get off the couch, do you
really want a second helping; these comments can be very hurtful, dangerous,
and have unintended consequences," explains Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, MPH, RD.

Hopefully positive reinforcement in the home can combat the
negative messages seen everywhere else.

Dr. Neumark-Sztainer plans to track her 'Project EAT'
participants through adulthood and study how they communicate healthy eating
habits to their own children.